Mobile respirometer and swim flume system to study the ecology and evolution of large fishes and schools of fish in the Great Lakes

能量是生命的货币。因此，生物学家花费大量精力试图量化各种生物体的能量支出也就不足为奇了。要做到这一点并不是一件容易的事情，特别是对鱼类等水生动物来说。评估鱼的能量的标准方法被称为呼吸测量法，将它们放在呼吸仪中测量氧气消耗并得出代谢率。呼吸器中的水流可以被操纵来诱导不同水平的游泳活动，这本身就有助于评估生物运动能力和健康之间的关系。代谢率(包括标准代谢率和最高代谢率)在个体(包括生命阶段和性别)、种群和物种之间差异很大，并受到水温和溶解氧等环境因素的强烈影响。由于代谢率对环境的变化很敏感，因此呼吸测量在评估各种人为应激因素，如气候变化、有毒化学品和栖息地退化的后果方面具有很大的实用价值。呼吸仪还可用于校准电子标签(例如，生物记录仪或生物遥测设备)，以估算自由游动鱼类的场能。这项提议是为了建立一个非常大的最先进的、定制的和移动的鱼类呼吸仪--游泳槽(能够以与野生相当的流速游动大型鱼类和鱼群，这种系统在五大湖流域任何地方都不存在)，它将能够测量鱼类代谢率和任何五大湖鱼类的游动表现。这项文书将支持国家渔业政策研究委员会、加拿大研究教席和五大湖渔业委员会目前的项目，这些项目由国际渔业研究中心提出(n=9，在4所大学)，并为合作的国际研究提供新的机会，这将培训许多HQP。该系统将支持的研究领域多种多样，包括(I)鱼类运动和实地能量研究，(Ii)鱼类的遗传质量和适合性，(Iii)气候变化研究，(Iv)入侵生物学，(V)鱼类的污染物应激源，以及(Vi)濒危物种。由于“健康五大湖”是温莎大学的战略重点研究领域，他们已承诺为这一RTI提供100,000美元。

Energy is the currency of life. It is therefore not surprising that biologists expend significant effort in an attempt to quantify the energetic expenditures of various organisms. Doing so is not an easy task, especially for aquatic animals such as fish. The standard approach for assessing the energetics of fish, called respirometry, is to place them in a respirometer to measure oxygen consumption and derive metabolic rate. Water flows in the respirometer can be manipulated to induce different levels of swimming activity which in its own right is useful for evaluating relationships between organismal locomotory capacity and fitness. Metabolic rates (both standard and maximum) vary extensively among individuals (including across life-stages and sexes), populations, and species and are strongly influenced by environmental factors such as water temperature and dissolved oxygen. Because metabolic rate is sensitive to changes in the environment, respirometry has much utility in evaluating the consequences of various anthropogenic stressors such as climate change, toxic chemicals, and habitat degradation. Respirometers can also be used to calibrate electronic tags (e.g., biologgers or biotelemetry devices) that estimate the field energetics of free-swimming fish. This proposal is for a very large state-of-the-art, custom made and mobile fish respirometer-swim flume (capable of swimming large fish and schools of fish at flow rates comparable to the wild, a system of this sort does not exist anywhere in the Great Lakes Basin) that will enable measurement of fish metabolic rates and swimming performance on any Great Lakes fish. This instrument will support current NSERC, Canada Research Chair and Great Lakes Fishery Commission projects by the proposals PI's (n=9, at 4 universities), and provide new opportunities for collaborative, international research that will train many HQP. Research areas this system will support are varied and include (i) fish movement and field energetic studies, (ii) genetic quality and fitness of fishes, (iii) climate change research, (iv) invasion biology, (v) contaminant stressors on fishes, and (vi) species at risk. Because "Healthy Great Lakes" is a strategic priority research area for the University of Windsor, they have committed $100,000.00 to this RTI.